


Piece of Cake

by padfootprophet



Series: found family fics [1]
Category: DCU (Comics), New Teen Titans, Teen Titans (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: Baking, Fluff, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26156314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootprophet/pseuds/padfootprophet
Summary: Every year Donna and Wally band together to make Garth a birthday cake. It's a tradition, albeit one that they're terrible at.(written for the found family bingo prompt: baking together)
Relationships: Donna Troy & Wally West, Garth & Donna Troy & Wally West
Series: found family fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1899400
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41
Collections: Found Family Bingo





	Piece of Cake

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking part in the found family bingo, more info [here](https://found-family-bingo.tumblr.com/AboutPage), and if you want to see my bingo card I posted it over [here](https://twitter.com/amazingjayn/status/1297987941030080512/photo/1). I'm mostly going to be using it as an excuse to post a whole load of cute Titans based fics but if there's something you want to see feel free to let me know.

A cloud of white erupts through the kitchen, temporarily blinding Donna. Something slimy splatters against her cheek and she lets out a shriek. It's probably egg. It's _definitely_ disgusting. It's also a mistake to open her mouth because she inhales a mouthful of flour and ends up bent over spluttering when the cloud finally settles; a blanket of white, like a localised snowstorm in the kitchen.

"Suffering Sappho," she mutters, swiping at the egg on her cheek and coming away with a hand stuck together with barely-mixed cake batter. She shoots a glare towards Wally, who at least has the courtesy to look sheepish.

"I'm sorry!" Wally says, raising his hands. In his defence he looks like he caught even more than Donna did, a string of egg yolk dripping down his forehead, a glob of butter splattered over his cheek, and his entire body painted white with flour and sugar. He also looks like he's trying to hold back laughter, which counteracts the apology somewhat.

Whoever thought it was a good idea to combine superspeed with baking was going to have to answer to her (nevermind that she could have, and probably should have, put a stop to it).

The door bursts open with enough force to send up another flurry of flour. "I heard..." Dick starts, before his gaze darts around the kitchen and his forehead creases into a frown. "What _happened_ in here?"

"I can explain!" Wally says quickly.

Dick sets his shoulder against the doorframe, wisely staying out of the mess that is the team kitchen and slowly arches one eyebrow. "This should be good," he says.

"Well, it's just..." Wally swipes a hand through his hair, a nervous habit that only serves to smear egg further into the strands, sticking them in random directions so he resembles something closer to a hedgehog. "Did you know Atlanteans don't celebrate birthdays? Or even keep track of the date they're born? I asked Garth when his birthday was and he said he was born under the second moon of summer, but he didn't see why that was important."

He pauses his tirade to huff and then blinks rapidly when it sends a cloud of flour towards his eyes.

Donna, having already heard this tirade against Atlantean traditions once before (and knowing how long it took Wally to get to the point) takes over the explanation. "Wally figured out Gath's birthday is next week so we are making him a cake." Something drops from the ceiling, likely more egg, and splatters against the countertop. "Or, I suppose we _were_ making a cake."

Dick sighs. "Just clean it up. At normal speed." He shakes his head, letting the door swing shut behind him.

"Do you think he's mad?" Donna asks.

"Nah, just disappointed." Wally digs out a couple of towels, throwing one in Donna's direction. "Can you get the ceiling?"

Kori sits cross-legged on the kitchen floor, hair bunched over one shoulder to stop it from dragging against the linoleum, nose practically pressed against the glass of the oven door. Donna watches Kori watching the cake rise, leant against their kitchen counter with Wally perched next to her, his fingers tapping out quick and rhythmless patterns against his thighs.

"This is an Earth tradition?" Kori asks, turning from the heat of the oven to direct her question at the two of them.

"Sure," Wally says. "It's not always cakes, but pretty much every culture has its own way of celebrating birthdays, and no celebration is complete without _some_ kind of confectionery."

"Except for Atlanteans," Donna points out. "There's no birthday celebration in their culture."

Wally rolls his eyes, as disappointed at the entire ocean race for their lack of birthday cheer now as he was when he first found out Garth had never had a birthday party before joining the Titans. "Except for _this_ Atlantean."

Kori's brows furrow in a way that's become familiar to Donna since they started living together, her nose wrinkling just the slightest as she tries to commit some new Earthling quirk to memory.

"And you're still making a cake for Aqualad even though he's no longer a Titan?" she asks.

"Just because he's not an active member of the team doesn't mean he's not a Titan," Donna says.

"Right," Wally says. "He'll always be one of us. Just like you'll always be a space princess, even a million miles from home. And a Titan, even if you leave."

"I'm a princess because of my fami— _oh_ , I see."

Wally's lips quirk upwards into a crooked smile and he stills his fingers, only to raise them above his head, stretching out from his hunched position. "Exactly. You don't get to quit your family."

"Even if you have to take an extended leave," Donna says.

"Ha! Garth's on sabbatical."

Kori giggles from her spot on the kitchen floor and it's nice to see her slotting into a space on the team, in their little family. Then she turns back to the oven and tips her head to one side. "Is it supposed to be doing that?"

Wally hops off the counter and bends down beside her so he can peer through the speckled glass at Garth's cake. He makes an uncertain "err" sound and turns to Donna, which is (of course) when the cake explodes with a wet sound and coats the entire oven with chocolate batter.

"No," Donna says, sighing as she crosses to the sink in search of cleaning supplies. "It is _not_ supposed to do that."

Garth inspects the cake slowly, turning the plate to look at every fondant fish carefully fixed onto the edges between bubbles of buttercream icing.

"When did you two learn to bake?" he asks, head tilted to one side. "I guess we really have spent too much time apart."

Roy scoffs, leaning against Garth's shoulder and then over it to swipe one of the buttercream bubbles from the side of the cake. He shakes his head as he licks the icing from his thumb. "If those two _actually_ made this cake I'll eat my hat."

"The ugly yellow one?" Wally asks.

"Watch whose uniform you're calling ugly, mustard," Roy shoots back.

"Boys," Donna chides.

Roy meets her eyes, narrowing his own with obvious suspicion. "I'm just saying, I'd trust Lian alone in the kitchen before either of you."

"To be fair," Garth says, ducking out from under Roy's arm to search the kitchen for a knife. "Lian's a talented chef." He pulls a butter knife from the knife block, frowns, and then puts it back in the drawer it was meant to be in. Maybe Roy has a point about their combined lack of care in the kitchen.

"Better than any of us," Roy says, "but still not good enough to pull off this." He sets his palms against the counter and fixes his gaze on Wally. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't buy this cake from a bakery."

"We didn't buy this cake from a bakery," Wally lies.

Roy turns back to Donna. "And you're just going to stand for this lying?"

"What lying?" she asks. She pulls open the drawer that's supposed to be for cooking utensils and picks out the knife that definitely didn't belong there. She offers it to Garth with a wink that Roy definitely sees.

He shakes his head. "What happened to honesty being an Amazonian value?"

"Corrupted by the world of men. I blame you lot."

"Hey!" Wally protests, although he's grinning wide enough that his offence is clearly put upon.

"Who cares who made it?" Garth says, carefully cutting a slice out of the cake. It comes away in perfect layers of sponge, fruit, and buttercream that Donna knows she and Wally couldn't hope to achieve. He presses the slice into Roy's hand and then cuts three more in turn. "What's important is how it tastes."

Wally lifts his slice like a glass. "Cheers to _that_ ," he says.

Garth laughs, and raises his cake too, bumping his slice against Wally's and ignoring the spray of crumbs that scatter onto the counter. Donna joins with a laugh and looks to Roy. He shakes his head, but lifts his cake slice anyway, a piece of fruit slipping out and onto the iced cake beneath. "Happy Birthday, Garth," he says.

Donna grins and adds, "May we share many more."

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if Atlantean's actually celebrate birthdays and I don't care :P


End file.
